Why did Peter Snell never break the 1500m world record?

doctorj wrote:

The obvious: he wasn't fast enough for the distance whenever he tried it.

Never thought of that.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Mzungu Warrior wrote:

1:45.1 for the half with 1:44.3 for the 800 metres on the way.

Unless the times were rounded in opposite ways, this indicates the last 4.65 meters in .8 seconds, which is 17.2s per 100m pace. Not likely. How was this timed?

The normal conversion for 800m to 880yds, or vice versa, is 0.6secs. as it is such a short distance, 0.8 sec is perfectly plausible, but does suggest, as does Snell's last 200m of 28 + sec, that he was struggling in the last part of the race.

I know that they did have official time keepers for both distances; so perhaps Snell eased off once he went through the 800m point.

Interestingly, Ryun's 1:44.9 was the time taken for 880yds, the only official time taken; they didn't bother to set up a timekeeper at 800m; and although they converted it to 1:44.3 for 800m, it was never acknowledged as = the time of Snell.

Elliott stating he would have demolished Snell if they ran in the 1500m in 1964.

Mamede wrote:

Terminator Warfare wrote:

Huh? Back in those days it was high mileage, fine wine & fine women. You don't need PEDs if you have those three elements (and fine women will naturally raise your T levels ?).

Amphetamines were a drug of choice for top European cyclists at the time as well.

It's funny how all of these great runners from the 20's to the 60's were stuffing themselves full of amphetamimes, crude steroids with no knowledge of how to cycle or control the side effects, and yet nearly all of them lived to their 80s or beyond, most of them in remarkably good health. Peter Snell had a pacemaker fitted when he was 72 or so, but that's hardly unusual.

It would be interesting to see the mortality rates for cyclists in the same periods and compare. I suspect it would be quite different.

Archduke Charles wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64xx0qwYXNE

Elliott stating he would have demolished Snell if they ran in the 1500m in 1964.

I think he was joking but said it would have been quite a race.

Coevett wrote:

It's funny how all of these great runners from the 20's to the 60's were stuffing themselves full of amphetamimes, crude steroids with no knowledge of how to cycle or control the side effects, and yet nearly all of them lived to their 80s or beyond, most of them in remarkably good health. Peter Snell had a pacemaker fitted when he was 72 or so, but that's hardly unusual.

It would be interesting to see the mortality rates for cyclists in the same periods and compare. I suspect it would be quite different.

Some of the big names known to have used amphetamines have passed while others are still ticking. The most well known cyclist from that time period & GOAT, Eddy Merckx, is 72 and still rides some. Roger Legeay is in his 80s, Poulidor & Tollet are 68...just to name a few.

Just taking a cursory look at the 60's cyclists on that list, nearly every one died prematurely.

As far as I know, every middle-dostance Olympic finalist from 60, 64, and 68 are still alive.

Here's one for you Coevett: Why were many of top cyclists from that time period using amphetamines as a primary PED and the runners from the 60s, at least according to you, weren't? ? Were the runners aware of the cyclists using amphetamines and wanted nothing to do with it? Were they frightened of it unlike the cyclists? Conversely, when EPO first hit the cycling world in the early 90s it didn't take long to spread to distance running where it was embraced very eagerly.

because when he was in grade school kids use to call him snell the snail and he never quite got over that.

Surely, it was the Tour type cyclists who are associated with amphetamines. The ones involving in very long gruelling day-after-day tour races.

Athletes, running one off shorter - hundreds of miles shorter - races probably didn't consider them to be very beneficial.

Of course, their was a culture of cheating in theTour de France going back to its early days.

Well, I've always thought that Snell surely could have broken Herb's 1500m.

After all, he broke Herb's mile record on a grass track and was much faster than Elliott over 800m.

I 'm sure the Snell who destroyed Beatty an Grelle in 1963 over a mile, finishing like a train,

was capable of a 3min 52 mile.

Let's Get To The Bottom Of This wrote:

Here's one for you Coevett: Why were many of top cyclists from that time period using amphetamines as a primary PED and the runners from the 60s, at least according to you, weren't? ? Were the runners aware of the cyclists using amphetamines and wanted nothing to do with it? Were they frightened of it unlike the cyclists? Conversely, when EPO first hit the cycling world in the early 90s it didn't take long to spread to distance running where it was embraced very eagerly.

I don't really give a sheet. The fact is, there is no reason to believe runners did and a lot of reasons for believing they did.

That list you have contains at least 50 cyclists who are known to have used peds. Most of them died early. No middle distance runner before the African EPO explosion is known to have used peds and nearly all lived into their. 80s or 90s. Now you demand I explain this?

*to believe they didn't.

I bet Herb turned up in Rome the most under prepared athlete to win the 1500m in Olympic history.

When he arrived in Rome, Herb didn't know what shape he was in. It was all "a wing and a prayer" stuff.

But, if on his return to Australia in 1958 - after his amazing exploits in Europe - Herb had trained progressively - and regularly - throughout the remainder of 1958, all through 1959, and into 1960, then I'm sure he would have been in 3min 33sec shape. in Rome.

Herb will, for me, always be the greatest "what if" athlete in history.

Some comparsions between Olympic 1K time trial medalists, 800m running medalists, and Tour de France winners. Between 1952 and 1960.

1 km cycling 9 medalists : 3 alive ; 4 died before 60 ; average age - 61.5

tour de france 7 winners : 1 alive ; 4 died before 60 ; average age - 64

800m running 9 medalists : 3 alive ; 0 died before 60 ; average age - 80.3

0/10

Stinking up the joint wrote:

0/10

The person who is stinking up the joint is the guy (presumably you) who has a deepseated rather disturbing need to believe EVERYBODY ALWAYS TOOK PEDs, even 60s runners like Snell, and therefore derails every single thread into a 'discussion' of whether the athlete in question took them. A discussion, that is which involves you (and your alter egos 'lets get to the bottom..'/'enquiring minds want to know'.) constantly asking 'why?' like a 6 year old when you're presented with clear evidence that suggests you're wrong.

I mean if EVERYBODY takes peds since the Ancient Greeks, why don't you just STFU on threads like this? If everybody takes them, then it's still a fair question as to why Snell didn't break the Mile WR, because not only he was injecting himself with crystal, dbol, testosterone, so was Elliott and all the rest.

Coevett wrote:

No middle distance runner before the African EPO explosion is known to have used peds and nearly all lived into their. 80s or 90s.

Stupid post tough guy: "No" mid-d runner before the EPO explosion? Yeah, right...try Wenzel (Ephedrine) & Silai (roids) for starters. And there's the East German roid machine used by a lot of their runners, both male & female, which very few ever tested positive for. And considering how lame drug testing was back then Wenzel & Silai must have been glowing like a New England lighthouse on a foggy night to get popped.